For most of us, December is “the most wonderful time of the year.” For Christmas tree farmers, it’s also the busiest time of the year.

“We like January. That’s one time when we can really just relax,” said Audrey Balthaser, who owns Perry Valley Tree Farm along with her husband, Tom.

Pennsylvania is the fourth largest state for Christmas tree farms, according to the 2007 census of agriculture. Of the state’s 34,789 acres of Christmas tree farms in production, 834 acres are in Perry County. Most of those farms trace their history to the 1970s, when the popularity of Christmas trees was on the rise and prices were good. In Perry County and elsewhere new tree farmers started planting rows of pines.

“Everybody thought it was a get-rich quick scheme,” said Tom Balthaser. He studied forestry at Michigan State and previously worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He and his wife bought their farm in Greenwood Twp. in 1970.

Most Christmas tree farmers don’t become millionaires, though. “Anybody that tells you you’ll make a pile money growing Christmas trees, why they don’t know what they’re talking about,” said Jack Rudy, who bought his farm outside New Bloomfield in 1978.

“It’s more work than a lot of people think,” said Matthew Nulton of Shermans Dale. His parents planted their first Christmas trees in 1973 when their youngest son, John, was born, with the idea of saving money to send the kids to college.

Christmas trees can take eight to 10 years to grow to a marketable size, and their care is a full-time job. It starts with planting as soon as the ground thaws in spring. Then comes spraying for pests and mowing all the rows between trees. In the heat of summer, the trees must be trimmed and shaped, and cones must be removed before they get too big and sticky.

“Picking cones is the most miserable thing,” said Tom Balthaser.

The work doesn’t slow in the fall but it does pick up a more festive spirit as the retail season kicks in. At most farms, the children and grandchildren of the owners can be found helping in the barn where trees and various holiday baubles are purchased, often with a free cup of hot cocoa.

As those growers who started planting in the 1970s have grown older, and their trees taller, the market has shifted in more ways than one.

“When we started it was pretty much all Scotch pines. That was the Christmas tree of choice,” said Matthew Nulton.

Pines are no longer a major seller, though. According to Tom Balthaser, “nothing’s better than Fraser fir” in current sales. That shift raises a challenge since the species is native to North Carolina mountains where it enjoys deep, well drained soil and lots of rainfall, unlike the shale-mixed soil and frequent droughts of central Pennsylvania.

One reason for the popularity of Fraser firs is that they last much longer after being cut than do pines. “A customer wants their tree in the house longer than ever,” said Audrey Balthaser.

The busiest weekends used to be those closest to Christmas, but now the season starts strong after Thanksgiving. The first weekend of December usually is “a zoo,” according to Tom Balthaser.

Desirable sizes for trees also have increased in recent decades. Nulton said the tallest marketable trees in the 1970s and ’80s were seven feet. Now he sees customers asking for trees from nine to 14 feet.

With a long time between planting seeds and harvesting, farmers have to make their best guesses at what might be popular 10 years from now.

“Christmas tree growers realize that they have to search out something new and different because they know that down the road people will want that,” said Tom Balthaser.

For many among that 1970s batch of tree farmers, adapting to the next trends will be a task for new leadership. Matt Parson, for instance, bought Arnold’s Tree Farm in Marysville from his father-in-law two years ago, after helping with the duties for 20 years.

Similarly, Matthew Nulton and his brother took over the work from their father, Sam. Nulton works full-time as an engineer and then goes home to work at the farm.

“I like doing some physical work that you can look back and see some progress that you don’t always see in the office world,” he said.

Although Christmas being a business may make his festive spirit arrive a little later in the season than most people’s, Nulton still enjoys the holiday and can’t imagine having an artificial tree.

“A real tree isn’t the same every year. Each tree when you put it up is a little special. And you can’t replicate the smell,” he said.